Once cheddar was 'Cheddar', a large, hard-pressed barrel of cheese made by a particular…

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas 5/fan 170C and get out an ovenproof dish (measuring 20 by 30cm, and about 5cm deep). Meanwhile, put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta. When it is boiling rapidly, tip in the pasta with a generous sprinkling of salt. Give it a stir, return to the boil and cook for 6 minutes. Add the broccoli, then return the water to the boil and cook for 4 minutes more, until the broccoli is on the firm side of just tender. Drain well.

While the pasta is cooking, put the butter, flour and milk in a large pan and heat, whisking or stirring continuously, until it thickens to make a smooth sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in the mascarpone, sun-dried tomatoes, capers (if using), anchovies (if using) and basil, then add the pasta and broccoli and season well.

Halve the salmon fillets widthways (you will see that there is an obvious divide on each fillet) then place the pieces in a single layer on the base of the ovenproof dish. Spoon the broccoli mixture on top, then scatter with the grated cheddar. (You can chill this for up to 4 hours if you want to get ahead.)

Bake for 30 minutes until the mixture is just starting to bubble round the edges and the mixture is pale golden – don’t let it go too dark or the fish will overcook.

This was wonderful, didn't have any mascapone, so used a tub of Garlic and Herb cream cheese. Full of flavour, will defo make again.As mentioned by other users, I do not like anchovies, but you honestly could not taste them.

I couldn't find sundried tomatoes in my co-op so have added 190g jar sun dried tomatoe pesto. sauce taste great and it is currently bubbling away nicely in the oven. Ive cut my salmon fillets up into chunks rather than just halfing. Sure its gonna taste great.

Good weekday staple. I put some extra cherry tomatoes in which worked and I think it could do with more veg - or at least serve it with a green salad. In my opinion it needs the capers and sun-dried tomatoes and might add some mustard or something else with a bit of zing next time too. A good recipe for baby led weaning too.

I love this recipe, for a change/cheaper alternative why not omit the capers, anchovies, basil and sundried tomatoes and add green pesto to the sauce instead. For less calories i add 25grms of parmarsan rather than the 50g of mature cheddar.

Comfort food at its best! I also found it a bit bland the first time i made it, and now add the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes into the white sauce. Dollydaydream beware - whilst salmon may be healthy, this dish has A LOT of calories!

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